CompuServe Thread

#Melt Morph?

2 messages in this thread
#157433From: Jerry C. BensonMar 6, 1995 8:20 PM
O.K. O.K. I know ya explained it once but tell me again. At the last S.D. (San Diego) User Group, you demo'd "Elastic Reality" and showed a MJ (Major Cool) morph that you did. You morphed some exploded pieces on the floor to the final "Melt" transition of a statue or something. What was really cool was that even though the statue was melted about 95% there were no faces visible so the transition was "very" smooth which is what I believe you said you also did. Auto Smooth? or something plus something else equaled a very nice transition. Soooooo…. what "again" was the solution? For those who didn't see it, the final melt transition "looked" like a puddle object, but was in reality the fully melted morph and looked like a puddle without any sharp edges where parts of the object had melted to. If you have the YOST Melt IPAS you know what I'm talking about and what the "Big A" is about to say is worth listening to! So, if you would be so kind, tell me again Alan cause I want mine to look like yours. <g> Jerry
#157485From: ALAN IGLESIASMar 7, 1995 12:24 AM
Hi Jerry, Thanks for the nice things you said about the animation. I'm still "dialing it it" as I speak… The 3D morph targets were done, as you know, with the Yost Group's Melt IPAS Plug-In. Quite routine, actually. The mesh was, as you'll remember, a rough-looking object, as was the final "puddle" it morphed into. The object was mapped with a fairly detailed Bump Map, and that probalby helped the final effect's smoothness quite a bit. I believe your original question was about the relative smoothness of the objects and morph targets, and how you might control it. I think I suggested using Auto Smooth on a morph target that required it, or perhaps some material morphing, depending on what you wanted to do. The bottom line is, that without knowing exactly what you are trying to accomplish and with what type of objects and materials, it is quite difficult to make any specific suggestions regarding your project. So feel free to give me a call tomorrow (the afternoon would be best) and we'll talk a bit about your project, OK? -Alan